Y A K 3     T A C T I C S 

Guns Defense Maneuvering:
Using The Lead Turn in a Head-On

The first addition to this page is a tactic that can be applied to any aircraft involved in a dogfight, however it can be used especially effectively, when tailored with a loop, by the YAK pilot. When I fly, I too often watch helplessly as my comrades try to tackle other countries pilots and aircraft head-on. If you choose to fly a YAK, you are breaking the Number 1 rule. Never ever go into a dogfight head-on with an undamaged YAK, never ever. The YAK has the least amount of armor of any FA aircraft, and only medium strength guns. Know your fighters attributes, assume anyone you meet already knows they will defeat the YAK in a head-on situation. Remember, the key to success is drawing your opponent into a turn fight.

The lead turn takes the newbie's "turn harder" strategy and moves it forward in time. Instead of waiting and firing blindly head on -- hoping for hits -- and then turning after the merge, you throw away this dangerous shot opportunity in the hopes of a better one just a bit later on. Really throw it away, do not even fire as you close on the bogey. As you approach head on, you wait until the opponent is nearly in firing range. Most bogeys will start firing at about 3000 to 2800 feet in order to perfect their aim and maximize hits. Watch their tracers as an indicator of this next part... This is critical: Pull slightly out of 'plane' to confuse their aim, maybe only 15 degrees. THEN climb into a hard breaking loop at about 2200 to 2500 feet of closure distance. The bogie will fly right by firing into thin air! Beware, looping distance is not always the same, some fighters shoot farther, so turn earlier if in doubt.

Keep the stick pinned back, you are now at the top of that loop... Make sure you had that bogey padlocked, now go easy on the rudder if possible, maximize your energy gain as you finish the loop.This maneuver works so well for the YAKer because of the superior turn radius of the YAK. It has the best turn rate of any fighter in Fighter Ace. Now if you pulled that loop with out sustaining any damage, there are two paths to follow.

1.) If the bogey decides to chase you by looping to follow you around, you will win the engagement. There is a reason for this. You began the loop before your opponent did, thus you will finish faster... as long as you are flying a YAK3 and are consistently aware of your opponents position. Use you padlock to keep the bogie in view and do not be afraid to go for as many loops or turns as it takes to climb onto his six. Your opponent will soon be on the defensive without hope of gaining your six.

2.) If the bogey is smart he will know you can win the turn rate-battle. He will not follow you into that loop, and most likely he will level and run out 5000 or 6000 feet, climb, and come back at you guns firing. At this point you might want to call for your fellow DOWs, because although once you become proficient at the head-on lead looping turn, you will be difficult to hit, you are really doing nothing more than defensive flying.

I'll be working on getting a recording of this maneuver and will hopeful have it posted for download and viewing shortly..

Using Padlock Effectively

The following link is to a great article describing in detail how padlock works within the Fighter Ace environment. Padlock is a 'must learn' tool for the pilot who wants to really be an effective ace.

[Click here for padlock article]

Guns Defense Maneuvering:
When Being Pursued From Six O'clock-High

Question: If I’m being actively pursued by a bogie that has a Speed and Altitude advantage am I dead meat?

Answer: Absolutely not, provided you are flying a YAK3 and you learn the following move…

You may want to begin to download the short film showing the specifics of this maneuver, as by the time its downloaded you will be finished reading this :-).

Seem familiar? ------à The fight was a two on two, suddenly it’s a one on one engagement, and at the moment your opponent seems to have the upperhand… <...setting for the film here...> Me and my wingman have just been rundown by two enemies. We are at 15k, the enemy zoomed from perhaps 30k. My wingman has just been downed after a brutal zoom and boom, although I was able to catch and down one of the two, but the remaining bogie, in the film it’s 99_Nasty piloting a P51, is closing on to my six-hi as I attempt to extend while droping some alt to grab speed. Of course a P51 will always be able to catch the YAKer due to it’s superior speed characteristics, so it’s obvious I’ll have to fight. Choices in that situation are fairly limited… Could press ESC now and get it all over with (joke, hehe)… Dive for the deck jinking and dipping to dodge the tracers as I wait for reinforcements, wait for him to make a mistake as we both play the deadly scissors… Or crank off a hard 180 degree breaking turn and *hail Mary* hope for luck when taking the head-on shot… All of which will probably just get me killed quickly – especially because my opponent happens to be 99_Nasty.

In this situation I have only found one sure fire method to shut down the bogeys attack. I don’t know what to call this move, or what others call it, so what I’ll do is explain it, and hopefully with the explanation and the film to view I can make myself clear. The maneuver is actually a combination of several individual moves. The first is a slightly modified Split S… As the bogey closes on you from the 6 hi position, watch him carefully either with padlock, or manual hat view. It is imperative that you see his distance tag for this to work – timing is everything -, adjust your fight trajectory downward slightly to see the tag if you have to. When the bogie reaches 3000 feet of closure distance, push the nose over as hard a you can. When you are looking directly at the ground, by spinning the plane on it’s axis 180 degrees at this point and leveling out you would now be headed back it the direction of the attacker, just at a bit less altitude, but with excellent Energy. If the move stopped there you would die. So here are the remaining parts… backtracking a bit, in the middle of the Split S, above, when you were spinning 180 degrees, what you need to do is add a little more spin. The total spin should maybe 200, 210 or so degrees. As you complete this spin remember the bogie is still closing, and now he’s diving on you because you just drooped a lot of altitude. You will not want to pop up right in front of him because he will kill you instantly, you want make sure the spin is enough to off-set your aircraft's plane in relation to the bogies (*it might be helpful to review the above article if you are confused here, as this part of this maneuver is similar to what one would need to perform in the 1st article). When you judge you have spun sufficiently, yank the stick back hard and pull that YAK into a loop right NOW, make sure the enmy is padlocked as you pull up, watch his tracers as he closes, and adjust your loop trajectory if needed to avoid contact with the lead. If you waited until 3000 feet of closure to begin this move, you WILL be hearing lead fly by you, but if timed everything right the bogie won’t be able to even tarnish the paint on your YAK.

From this point, you are out of immediate danger as the bogey has flown by. Continue to observe him and adjust course to either drop onto his six for the kill if he is silly enough to loop to catch you, or more likely just level out as the bogey extends and plans his next attack.

Watch the film for further clarity. Also familiarize yourself with the film viewing controls if you have not already. For short sequences like this one, I suggest using the F9 view to get a pretty good overall idea of whats happening. Also remember that shift+tab will let you ride in others aircraft.